Friday, April 30, 2010

Love it when things work out to re-connect with those from one of our past assignments! It was iffy for awhile, we had heard had retired, but weren't for sure, then didn't know if they stayed in the area. A few emails, call to the old work center, some FB posts, trying an old phone number, and BINGO we were meeting up. And it was his birthday! We brought the ice cream and C had the cake, yummy!

We were stationed with B at USAFA he was only dating C at the time...now they are married with the most handsomest little guy I have seen; he is just totally adorable, cuddly and sweeeet, A total heart stealer and I wanted to get my hands on him instantly, thankfully, he was willing, cause I would have hated to have not been well received from this little guy! I am seeing him again today and can't wait! But don't get the wrong idea I do not want another one (unless of course, God somehow made that happen, which is highly unlikely, think menopause here people) and I am NOT ready to be a grandma (my own "baby" is only 19 and unmarried-enough said!). I just love to love on a little one!

The Mc Family

B and JR

What a neat night of catching up and visiting. We love this part of our military lifestyle!

And for the most part those you meet and serve with are friends for life, no matter how long between visits, it's just like it was yesterday that you saw them. I say for the most part because we have had a few that were put out that we didn't stay in touch quite as much as they thought we should of and are miffed at the fact that we cross paths, call them up and would like to see them again...I call them E.G.R. folks and we love them anyway!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Holy Moly my brain is swirling with many thoughts this lovely chilly morning in South Carolina...mainly can I do this? Am I making the right decision? Will it really work? Stay tuned...

Long day yesterday as we woke very early for MiB to complete his annual PT test, not that I do not enjoy early mornings, I DO. I have come to embrace the early morning the older I have gotten but seriously 4:45 A.M. was EARLY! So off he went to meet his examiner (thanks Chaplain B) and ace it he did while I packed up the room. Not that there was a doubt he wouldn't pass, but he really did ace it! As in I think he got an excellent, which is what he normally gets but with all the moving hoopla he has been eating whatever I was trying to rid the pantry of and it wasn't all that wonderful of a diet. Also with the busyness of our life through guest and his travels he wasn't really putting in the PT time that he should have been the past few weeks (okay, um, maybe several weeks) to be fully prepared for the test. Nonetheless he did it, it's done and I'm glad that yet another must do has been accomplished for this next phase.

Then we finished giving away those last few items from the house, packed the car, checked out of TLF and hit the road North. It was a good drive, the last hour was rural which was kind of neat but a long hour after the early morning we had had. Checked into our place here, the Azalea Suite, checked out the commissary and BX, located the conference building for MiB and then went back to the room for some dinner and an early turn in.

FYI so far only one item has been identified that went into the long term storage that should not of and thankfully, sooooo thankfully, it was not a huge biggie, but still it was an "ought oh" moment. (It was not mine either :)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

We are officially homeless again...yeah, I know, it's sort of non news since it happens so frequently in our life but I just wanted to report on that! We had our final out this morning and all is well. Well, as well as can be considering they owe us a month's worth of rent that is, but that should be remedied in a week or so and then it will be really good!

Just to recap, the packing team came out last Thursday and as I already said they did an awesome job. Friday we were all ready for the truck and loaders to arrive by 10:00 a.m. and 4 hours after their scheduled arrival time they, well, they arrived. Yes, I did say FOUR hours after their scheduled arrival time. For those of you that are non adders that is 2:00 p.m. for their arrival time. You see they had a little trouble clearing the gate to get on base. We will just leave it at that and say we are very thankful that "locals" were hired to fill in the void and in record time we were tagged, inventoried, loaded and watching the truck leave with all our things heading to a storage facility in Plant City, Florida for the next 15 or so months.

After the truck pulled away we were pretty spent. MiB helped out a lot more then a customer normally would, he was definitely in the middle of the mix doing what he could to move things along, he dismantled nearly all things that needed to be dismantled along with helping to put down and take up the house protection when they were done loading. If you are unfamiliar with house protection that is the stuff they lay down on your floors to protect the tiles and carpet and the things they put up on the doors to protect the door frames, it is quite a good idea to do this.

I on the other hand spent our waiting time and my non "watching them" time cleaning for our final out. It was a long day. The master bathroom was completed along with the laundry room and most of the kitchen. The bar sink area was also checked off the list. There was still a good portion of the list for cleaning on Saturday, but by 11:00 a.m. Sunday we were F I N I S H E D. All that was left before the inspection was to meet the carpet cleaner Monday morning.

So when 6:00 p.m. Friday rolled around and they had just pulled away from the curb we really wanted to collapse on the floor and take a nap, even though we had a lovely chicken enchilada casserole in the fridge for dinner. The downside on this was that it still needed to bake for an hour. That really would be fine but I had already cleaned the oven so it would need to do that in our temporary living quarters, across base, after the oven heated up...yada, yada, yada, so when "three doors down" invited us to pizza it didn't take to much to convince ourselves we were in!

I must say that it was the best pizza to date for this area, I am only sad we didn't try Baci earlier! It came highly recommended last summer and we just never made it over to that area to try it. The restaurant also has a wine shop attached. Since "three doors down" are wine connoisseurs we had a hand picked bottle of Villa something or other from Italy, it was nice, fruity and not too oaky wine. I liked it! We enjoyed the nice wine with a Baci Special which is a white pizza with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh spinach. It was A M A Z I N G, very yummy indeed. Not to mislead you, it was NOT like any authentic Italian pizza we ever had while in Italy but it was a GOOD pizza with a nice crisp crust!

So there you have the update. We are out the house, we are leaving for South Carolina in the morning for a couple days then on to Montgomery for a week before coming back here for a couple days before heading up to the Panhandle for a week, then back here for several days before another trip to the Panhandle then back here until MiB leaves for the sandbox. Whew, it will be a whirlwind from now until then won't it? But it's all good :)

Monday, April 26, 2010

You probably think I am going to update on the move...but I am not. Not yet anyway, maybe later, maybe. Okay, seriously, I will; the loading day was quite an adventure!

Last night we tagged along on an outing with "three doors down" It was a humbling, somber event yet sorta rowdy at the same time, but nonetheless the meaning behind the event is worth mentioning. Brevard County hosted the traveling wall all last week. PAFB supported by opening and closing the events with senior leadership for both ceremonies. We didn't make the opening but we were there last night for the closing. It was an incredible thought provoking reminder that our country is still at war, we have been at war for quite some time, we are a nation who has gone through many wars, we most likely will continue in some way or another in this war business. We have not always done such a good job at honoring our war fighters. I pray that never happens again. Living the military lifestyle is not without it's challenges but to think of MiB having to go through what some of our veterans did...it's sobering, I would not ever discount what any Airman, Sailor, Soldier, Marine or Coast Guard service member did for his country, yet, somehow, that happened with our Vietnam Veteran's. It is unfortunate, it is sad. Thankfully, our country has taken a turn in how they welcome home veteran's of foreign war, it is a U-turn I hope and pray never changes.. It is the right thing to do, period!

I hope that when you encounter service members past and present that you will feel the urge to thank them. You don't need to say a lot, "thank you for your service" or "we appreciate what you do" is good and appropriate. It means a lot. It has been our pleasure to have the opportunity to do more, it warms your heart. We have paid for a lunch or dinner for one in uniform without their knowledge (especially, the really young ones), we have given rides, we have taken time to chat with an old timer, we have listened, we have made friends with those who seem friendless, it's not a lot but it might have made their day, made a difference to them, it wasn't for us or about us it was for them to thank them! I hope you will be inspired or feel like doing the same at some point; I think you will like how it makes you feel!

On a side note, we did not get to drive this golf cart although we felt we would have been very capable and could have had a lot of fun! We were only allowed to sit in it as the guy who procured it for our seating pleasure took the keys with him!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

So, that rocket that I saw roll yesterday went up tonight. It was a great evening for a launch. The sky was perfect. It was one of the best launches I have seen to date. I hope I have not been saying that about all the launches...but this one was good. We went up to the Air Force causeway on the Cape to watch, it was a good! Very good. I am so glad we have the honor of knowing "three doors down" he is the one responsible for this stuff at our base :) No matter what anyone else tells you it's true, he IS the rocket boy and we know him!!!!

This launch was awesome because it was carrying the new miniature military space shuttle, that is just really incredible to me! I mean in the nose of that rocket was a little space craft, wow, totally nifty! I don't think that info is classified or anything, but maybe you shouldn't repeat it just in case :) Nah, not really, you can find out more then you ever even wanted to know about this launch here.

Pretty neat stuff!

If you are following the "moving" story, the packers were here today...it went really good. Probably some of the best packers we have ever had, they were very professional, they did not take excessive breaks, they did not smoke, they did not have BO and they worked very hard the whole time they were here. They were done at 4 o'clock, that has to be some sort of record especially since they didn't even start til 9 A.M. Anyway there are now just over 150 boxes located throughout our house and garage, you cannot forget the garage people, it's an important area especially when you are moving! The driver will be here in the morning between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. with a loading helper and Lord willing it will all be crated on site and that will all be done at a reasonable hour as well!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I went to an old fashioned "rocket roll" today, oh my goodness, talk about another pretty cool experience, it certainly was! In the midst of this crazy busy week we decided this would be my last opportunity to see something such as this so we cut ties at the house and headed to the Cape for the "rolling of the rocket." This is an Atlas V rocket, now I have seen an Atlas V up close and personal before but I have not seen it roll.

The rocket is assembled in a building, a very big building to be sure and the Atlas is one of only a few rockets that get put together in the vertical position, so the building is very tall so they can do that. Yes I did go all the way to the top of the building when I saw the other rocket! It was very high up but it was very cool! This rocket is 20 stories tall! And in other statistics it is very heavy weighing in at just over 1 million pounds, yeah, one MILLION! (And I want to shed 7, seems trivial, huh?) Anyway, once it is all together they roll it over to the launch pad. That is what I watched today.

There was of course a mandatory safety briefing!

The Atlas V starting to make the roll to the launch pad.

Rolling out to the pad right behind us!

Safely on the pad and ready for lift-off tomorrow!

This was such a neat thing to see and I am not even close to being a rocket scientist :) I wish I would be able to return to the Cape for the launch but the movers will be here and I won't make it up in time. I will still see it from the house though!

All right back to the moving prep, they will be here in the morning between 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. which is pretty sweet considering sometimes it is as early as 7 a.m. We will already be up and moving by 7 but we won't have to be ready for the movers that early which is totally awesome in my world!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Well, Mr Coleman America showed up today to do our pre-move survey. If you have never done this then you just don't know what you are missing out on, seriously! For those who may not have had this experience this is when the person from the moving company comes out and walks through your house and annotates what you are moving. The key word here IS moving. This is so that when the packing crew shows up they will know how many boxes to bring. As we walked through the house Mr Coleman America kept asking, "is this going?" over and over again. Don't forget, I did say we are moving...hence the reason for his visit, are you following me here? :o)

I am still always amazed with this part of the moving process...you walk from room to room and Mr Coleman America ask over and over again "is this going?" and you answer one of the following:

"yes sir"

"why yes it is"

"certainly will be"

"definitely"

"yep"

By the time you have walked through all 12 rooms or so of your house AND the garage you have been ask "is this going?" 647,322,976 times! The answer continues to be "yes," but you are trying to come up with different ways to say that cause you feel like he is tired of hearing it. But that's fine Mr. Coleman America you just keep asking and I will keep answering you and when we are all done you will have figured out that is is ALL going!

I realize that there are times when not everything is moved but seriously the amount of times this question was asked and answered today was over the top. It was soooo funny, but then again it wasn't. It was nearly absurd and by the time it was over I wanted to shake him and say it's ALLLLLLL going buddy, except for what we didn't show you!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Oh my, honestly, the pictures really do not do the artist work justice. They are very talented folks for sure and they come from all over the world to include Russia, Norway, Italy and that is just the one's I remember; and also from across the USA as well! Several from right here in Florida.

The manatees!

Go SHARKS!

The one by the Italian guy - my favorite :)

The girls in the creative pit!

We had an enjoyable couple hours which was a nice break away from all the "movers are coming" prep we have been doing! Until another break in the action I'm back to the grind!

Friday, April 16, 2010

I will try to be gracious in the midst of uncertainty with the change over. I mean it's not anyone's fault we are the "old guys" and the new folks aren't even here yet, however, do we have to have the" let's just forget the old guy" attitude? I think not!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

I know, I know it's Thursday again! The calendar tells it all, I am knee deep in preparing for the movers who will be here in one week. In fact this time next week I will probably be waiting the arrival of said movers! I am thrilled to learn that the non-temporary storage area is not a warehouse so to speak...that it is a temperate climate that does not generally exceed 80 degrees. When everything you own goes into someone else's hands without much regard to your wishes cause they are paying for it every little bit of comfort you can find is a blessing!

So the week has flown by, many bags of garbage have been deposited at the curb, the Goodwill got a car load of things with a few more bags to be delivered this weekend, the neighbors pantry has been nourished, the firemen have been blessed, the A&FRC who cannot take donations has been bequeathed some anonymous donations ;), the Airman's Attic has not been left out of our giving away nor has the library. I think we are very close to being ready for the mover's. I feel good about where we are, or maybe I should say where I am as I would have liked MiB to have gone through more of the his boxes but it's all good. I just don't want a bunch of "stuff" sitting in storage for the next 12+ months that we don't need, that someone else could be benefiting from. I am sooooo over STUFF, not that I ever was into it, but I am no longer a "collector" of much of anything.

I still enjoy certain things to be sure, but not in such a big way, too much clutter. And to be honest some of the "collections" I did have from years back was by default...ever have that happen? You receive something, you like it and all the sudden everyone is giving you that. For me that happened several years back with Precious Moments. I like them, I really do, but I like the ones that are special to me, not all of them! I have culled the collection, still have a few more then I desire but it is better then it was!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Two weeks from today the movers will be here and pack up all our worldly possessions for the next 12+ months as we put practically everything we own into storage. That is really not that bothersome, the part that causes me to spring awake in the middle of the night is the thought of packing something away that I may need, I mean really need, and not be able to get it. So I am making lists, separating paperwork and things, mailing boxes, purging and trying to make sure that doesn't happen. I'll keep ya posted on that :) The other side of this is that as of 23 April we will not be in a home. We have been "homeless" many times in our life as we move from one locale to the other so I am somewhat used to doing this, however, this wasn't really supposed to start until June, late June, so we are a wee bit early on the homeless part. It'll work, it always has, right? Besides I am planning to live as a vagabond for the next year anyway so I started a few weeks early!

Meanwhile, I had a great phone call from lil'blue today. She had a very enjoyable Easter with the family, she rocked at the egg hunt this year! We talked about one of our summer trips, about her flying down and just life, it was a nice chat that was so enjoyable!

In other news MiB flew out to COS today. He left here where the temp is a lovely 77o and will enjoy a chilly 50o there, which really isn't that bad, but I saw the low for tonight and it is predicted at 34o, that is downright COLD in my book!

The other hot topic is the snake in the grass in my front yard! I must admit I did not see it, but three doors down did and called me as she sat outside my house, not literally, but in her car, letting me know he was there. I looked out the window but he had apparently already slithered into the bushes which are even closer to the house, yippee! I am so excited for this news....NOT! I don't mean any ill will towards any slithering creature, however, I do wish they would choose someone else's place to hang out at! That's all I'm sayin'!

Thoughts:

Snakes....yewwww!

I really like grapefruit!

Mosquitoes are suckers :)

I am a good paper shredder!

Beach walks have been awesome this week!

Okay, now onto some pleasurable reading as I take a break from the packing prep!